With the continued development of laptop computers as increasingly powerful tools that rival even desktop computers, concerns continue to arise about the management of various electronic and mechanical functions in a relatively small physical space. Though strides continue to be made in these respects, the ever-rapid increase in the variety and power of laptop functions presents ongoing challenges in general laptop design.
As with virtually any computer, laptops have long relied on fan mechanisms to cool various components, including (perhaps most importantly) the internally disposed computer chips that are part of the CPU. In the case of laptops, space constraints have already yielded creative solutions that preclude the need for large, bulky fans. In this regard, “fansink” arrangements are now commonly employed, where a heat transfer structure (e.g., a fansink fin structure as commonly known) is provided to draw heat from the CPU. Air from a fan then exhausts over this structure with the end result of cooling the computer interior.
Demands for better thermal performance have arisen. For instance, when a laptop is “docked”, i.e., connected to a docking station or the like, performance demands tend to be much greater than when the computer is in “undocked” or “mobile” mode, thus placing even greater demands on the existing fan arrangement. Such demands can lead to “throttling”, or a thermal overburden of the fan arrangement. Such concerns have led to the employment of dual inlet fansinks, or fansink arrangements with dual air intakes, e.g., with one intake disposed in parallel to side walls of a laptop and another disposed, e.g., on the bottom of the laptop. While this can yield admirable results in terms of cooling a laptop interior, questions have arisen as to whether such an arrangement is really cost-effective.
Accordingly, a growing need has been recognized in connection with-imparting better thermal performance to fansinks in computer settings, particularly in laptops.